The UCS Satellite Database is a listing of the more than 1000 operational satellites currently in orbit around Earth.

Our intent in producing the database is to create a research tool for specialists and non-specialists alike by collecting open-source information on operational satellites and presenting it in a format that can be easily manipulated for research and analysis.

It is available as both a downloadable Excel file and in a tab-delimited text format. A version is also provided in which the "Name" column contains only the official name of the satellite in the case of government and military satellites, and the most commonly used name in the case of commercial and civil satellites.

Satellite Quick Facts(includes launches through 1/31/15)

Total number of operating satellites: 1,265

United States: 528

Russia: 131

China: 132

Other: 474

LEO: 669

MEO: 94

Elliptical: 37

GEO: 465

Total number of U.S. satellites: 528

Civil: 18

Commercial: 229

Government: 121

Military: 160

The database is updated roughly quarterly (subscribe in the sidebar to the right). The database contains 26 types of data for each satellite, including technical information about each satellite (mass, power, launch date, expected lifetime) and its orbit (apogee, perigee, inclination, and period), as well as information on what the satellite is used for, and who owns, operates, and built the satellite.

Users can answer questions such as:

How many satellites does a given country have in orbit, and what are they used for?

How many satellites are used for military purposes versus commercial purposes?

Which countries have earth-observing satellites?

When was the oldest working satellite launched?

At what altitudes do most satellites orbit?

What activities are most satellites involved with?

We welcome corrections, additions, and suggestions. These can be emailed to the database manager at SatelliteData@ucsusa.org

Last Revised: March 11, 2015

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